TD's Scratchy Thinline

[Trevor Davies]

A couple of spraying questions.

Finally got to try my STAR 0.8 mm spray gun, with a LINCOLN 24L oil-free 1HP compressor. Not for a guitar project though.
Just trialing it on some 140 mm x 260 mm pine boards using Cabot's water based poly. I diluted the poly to a 50% mixture. It seemed to go on quite well, giving quite a smooth finish. I ended up giving them 5 coats - probably should have gone higher - but it worked out to be a nice finish for the project.

Soooo,
knowing nothing about spraying poly, a few questions:

1. Should the poly be diluted for better spraying? Is 50% reasonable?

2. How many coats should I expect to do?

3. I recall reading that necks are more playable with a satin finish. Is this just a player's preference?

4. Is spraying a water based poly still not recommended during times of high humidity?

Thanks for any assistance.

[Trevor Davies]

Today I shaped the headstock, routed the body shape, routed the pup cavity and control cavity, and routed the neck pocket. Also routed the body a 1/4 inch round edge.

Also, patched a few dents with pine coloured timbermate, and gave the neck and body a good sand up to 240 g.

[Trevor Davies]

I have drilled the jack plug, and the channels for the pup cavity to control cavity and the bridge ground to the control cavity. Also created a pickguard template and routed out a "tawny stripe " pickguard.

I needed to add a small "graft" to the inside of the control cavity to take the top screw for the "51 control plate. I thought this was an easier option than changing the shape of the control cavity - since the pup wire channel was easy to drill to the top section of the control cavity.

[McCreed]

A couple of spraying questions.

1. Should the poly be diluted for better spraying? Is 50% reasonable?

2. How many coats should I expect to do?

3. I recall reading that necks are more playable with a satin finish. Is this just a player's preference?

4. Is spraying a water based poly still not recommended during times of high humidity?

I have not sprayed the water-based stuff yet, BUT my wife just refinished our kitchen table with it (also Cabot's) so I had my first look at it...

1. re: thinning, I think Cabot's recommends only thinning by 10%, and I can see why. It definitely has a lower viscosity than oil based poly. My gut tells me 50/50 would be too much. I typically thin my oil based at 60/40 poly/turps for spraying and wipe-on (have also done 65/35 for spraying).

2. Until you're happy! (sorry)
Again, based solely on observation, the water-based poly did not seem to have the same build up as oil-based. ie: 6 coats w/b poly looked thinner than what I would expect from 6 coats of o/b poly.

3. I would say it's mostly personal preference, but more and more production guitars are using satin on their necks and advertising it as a "feature". Presumably because "it's what customers want" but it also reduces production costs!
So who's the real beneficiary??? (maybe win/win)
I personally prefer the feel of satin and have been using it exclusively for 3 or 4 years. I have even stripped gloss necks and resprayed in satin!

4. IME, applying most coatings in high humidity is a bad idea. The Cabot's w/b shows their drying times based on 25° C with 50% humidity but does not state "Do not... over such & such". I personally won't spray if the humidity is higher the 60% or the temp is over 25°. But that's just me, and I'm probably being over cautious. And again that's with o/b poly.



I really want to try the water-based stuff, as my work area has changed since moving house and the low odour/VOC is *really* appealing. (I used to have a big detached shed )

It's worth noting that water-based poly still has some amount of solvent in it. It's just less and somehow attached to water molecules by means of which I have no f^%&#*@ understanding of!!!

[Trevor Davies]

Thanks McCreed. Very helpful. Sounds like I need to experiment a bit as well!

Next time, I will try spraying "unthinned".

I will plan for more than 6 coats.

I will give a satin neck a go.

The low odour/VOC is also important to me (and the family, and dogs, and neighbours). I had complaints when using rattle cans for the DCSM build! Luckily the dogs do not hang around whenever I wear a mask!

[Trevor Davies]

Hopefully, one day, I will get a better single coil p bass pup.

But, until then, I have created some faux pole pieces, from silver vinyl, for the pup.

[Rabbit]

Hopefully, one day, I will get a better single coil p bass pup.

But, until then, I have created some faux pole pieces, from silver vinyl, for the pup.

There are some good pups out there, but they are a bit spendy.

[Trevor Davies]

I have stained the body, neck and fretboard with FW Old Baltic (diluted to 25%). I was a bit worried that it was too light, as seen in the first picture.

The body had 2 brushed coats of Tru-oil and then, everything has had a few coats wiped on. Very happy with the colour after a few coats. Lots more coats to go!

The vinyl stickers were put on after the 5th coat.

[Trevor Davies]

Worked on the neck today: levelled the frets, filed and polished. Added the nut and did a rough check of the nut slot action. All seems good!

Also, getting up to tru-oil layer 20.

[fender3x]

It doesn't show on the PB site, but Benson actually makes a '51 Precision bass pup. You might check with Adam what price he can get it for. Judging by the prices on his other Benson's it would be comparable to what we can get them for in the US...so at $65 US for a '51 P bass put it would be surprisingly reasonable.